BREAKING: Tension in Rivers as protesters storm PDP Secretariat over election dispute

Protests erupted at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday, as tensions mounted ahead of the Local Government elections set for October 5, 2024.

The protesters, arriving in large numbers, prompted security personnel to step in, managing both the crowd and the resulting traffic congestion, according to Channels Television.

The unrest stems from concerns over the delay in releasing the 2023 Voters’ Register by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).

IDOMA VOICE reported that Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, in a ruling delivered on September 30, 2024, barred INEC from providing the voters’ register to RSIEC due to ongoing legal disputes.

Despite the court’s ruling, Governor Siminalayi Fubara insisted that the election would proceed as scheduled, expressing confidence that the Supreme Court’s earlier decision, which mandated democratically elected local government executives across all states, supports his stance.